Weinstein’s ‘Butler’ Tops Box Office for Second Weekend

Forest Whitaker as Cecil Gaines in "Lee Daniel's The Butler." The film is playing across the U.S. Photographer: Anne Marie Fox/TWC Publicity/The Weinstein Company via Bloomberg

Aug. 26 (Bloomberg) -- “Lee Daniels’ The Butler” took in
$17 million in U.S. and Canadian theaters, leading the box
office a second weekend in the absence of a big-budget release.

“The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones,” a fantasy teen
movie, had sales of $9.3 million in its debut to place third for
Sony Corp.’s Screen Gems unit, researcher Hollywood.com Box-Office said yesterday in a statement.

“The Butler,” starring Forest Whitaker and Oprah Winfrey,
generated $52.3 million in domestic ticket sales since its
release on Aug. 16, helped by favorable reviews of Whitaker’s
performance as Cecil Gaines, based on the real-life White House
servant Eugene Allen, and for Winfrey, who plays his wife. The
movie’s $24.6 million debut marked the biggest opening weekend
for distributor Weinstein Co. since “Django Unchained” in
December.

“The Butler” is “benefiting from a lack of competition
because the big summer movies pretty much are played out, so now
the calendar is wide open for some more niche titles to try and
find an audience,” Paul Sweeney, an analyst with Bloomberg
Industries, said in a telephone interview. “I think it’ll play
well for the next couple of weeks.”

The movie cost about $30 million to produce, according to
researcher Box Office Mojo. It recounts the story of Allen, who
served presidents from Eisenhower to Reagan and whose life is
used to frame turning points in American history, including the
civil rights movement.

‘Mortal Instruments’

“We’re the Millers,” starring Jason Sudeikis and Jennifer
Aniston, collected $13.5 million to place second in its third
week. The comedy, made for $37 million, has become a hit for
Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. with a $91.7 million total at
the domestic box office.

“The Mortal Instruments,” released by Sony Corp. in the
U.S., was made for $60 million and was projected to take in
$10.5 million by Boxoffice.com. Based on the Cassandra Clare
novels, it stars Lily Collins as a teenager who discovers she is
part of a secret order of half-angel warriors locked in an
ancient battle to protect the world from demons.

“The Mortal Instruments” is “excessively busy and
occasionally cheesy,” wrote New York Times critic Jeannette
Catsoulis. “The bustling plot sacrifices clarity for density,
and emotional resonance for flirty one-liners.”

“The World’s End,” from Universal Pictures’s Focus
Features unit, came in fourth in its debut with $8.9 million in
receipts. What begins as a sentimental pub crawl for five
middle-age mates from the British suburbs turns into a sci-fi
comedy featuring outer-space body-snatchers.

‘You’re Next’

The British movie, starring Simon Pegg and Nick Frost and
directed by Edgar Wright, is the third installment from the
trio, after 2004’s zombie comedy “Shaun of the Dead” and
2007’s action caper “Hot Fuzz.”

Made for $20 million, “The World’s End” was projected to
generate $8.5 million by Boxoffice.com.

“You’re Next,” a horror flick from Lions Gate
Entertainment Corp. and the weekend’s third new release,
collected $7.05 million in seventh place. The picture, about a
group of masked murderers who invade a family reunion wielding
axes, was projected to take $9 million by Boxoffice.com.

Weekend revenue for the top 12 films rose 11 percent to
$91.6 million from the year-earlier period, Hollywood.com said.
Attendance year to date is down 3 percent, while revenue has
risen less than 1 percent.

The following table has U.S. movie box-office figures
provided by studios to Hollywood.com Box-Office. The amounts are
based on gross ticket sales on Aug. 23 and Aug. 24, and based on
estimates for yesterday.